Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-342907, filed on Nov. 10, 2000, is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an optical device and method of manufacture thereof and to an electronic instrument that incorporates the optical device.
2. Description of Related Art
An optical device having an optical element, such as a solid state imaging element, is known. In the packaging of a conventional optical device, the optical element is contained within a container, and a hermetic seal or the like is applied, so that the optical element is not exposed to moisture. In this way, a conventional optical device is provided with an expensive container to which a hermetic seal or the like is applied, and therefore tends to have a high cost.
An optical device of the present invention includes:
a substrate;
a flexible member having a first portion disposed so as to be spaced from the substrate, and a second portion surrounding the first portion and adhered to the substrate, in which a closed space is formed between the first portion and the substrate; and
an optical element disposed within the closed space, and mounted on the substrate.
An electronic instrument of the present invention incorporates the above described optical device.
A method of manufacturing an optical device of the present invention includes: mounting an optical element on a substrate; adhering a flexible member to the substrate so as to cover the optical element, to form a closed space between the substrate and the flexible member; and evacuating the closed space.